King et ses brigands (Aredit comic)/plot
While the main plot elements remain the same in this adaptation, there are significant differences in the details. Prelude to the mission While Copper agrees readily to go on the mission in the original, his reaction in the adaptation is significantly different and drawn out for much longer. Nor does Gimlet's invitation take place at the Ritz. In the adaptation, Copper is shown running a business, "Piccadily Garage". He gets a call from Gimlet asking him to come see him. Copper is reluctant, and all the way to Gimlet's office he is grumbling and declaring to himself that he will not go on anymore dangerous missions. Almost 10 pages are spent with Gimlet and Trapper persuading Copper to come along. Finally, Cub also turns up and Copper reluctantly agrees. The details of how Muraz Ismit or Ismit Pasha is captured is different. Here, his yacht is actually intercepted by a foreign naval vessel and he is taken prisoner. The yacht is then sunk by gunfire. One crewman survives and is later rescued by a Turkish destroyer. Into the Caucasus Biggles does not fly them to the objective. Instead, Gimlet pilots his own aircraft (which looks like a Grumman Gosling or Goose). They use Istanbul as a jump off point, which does not happen in the original. Three pages are spent on the landing scene alone. Gimlet, Trapper and Copper row ashore. They find a big cave and Copper signals Cub to taxi the aircraft into it. Gimlet then has the three draw matches. Cub draws the short one and has to stay behind to guard the aeroplane! Advancing inland Gimlet, Copper and Trapper advance inland but they do not spend the night at a hermit's hut on a hilltop as in the original. They keep going and what plays out from here is quite similar: Trapper discovers a track and they come across a peasant's hut. They see the hunter with a rabbit. He has a name here: Milko, and his wife is Klara. The cossacks come as in the original, and their house is torched, but the man is not executed. He and his wife are tied up and taken away on horses. The manner in which they find the castle is different. Trapper does not spot a ravine from within a forest. Instead, they hear running water and find a river. They then follow it into a gorge and finally spot the castle towering above them. They then climb up a cliff on one side to get to a forest nearby and here they spot the gallows. Unlike the original, there is no body hanging from the noose. Rescue of Macgreggo They see a force of cossacks leading out a prisoner towards the gallows. But here the rescue is not conducted by Macgreggo's brigands. They are not present at all. Watching the prisoner, Gimlet is quite sure it is not Izmit pasha. Yet, as the prisoner is led up to the gallows, he decides they must intervene. This seems a bit contradictory since he earlier decided he can't intervene with the peasant. Gimlet orders his men to ready their guns but Trapper has a suggestion: he shoots and kills the officer with an arrow from his bow. Another arrow kills the hangman. This, he says, strikes fear into the superstitious guards. They think evil spirits are exacting divine justice and flee in terror. Four guards stay behind and Gimlet and co. overpower them in hand to hand combat. Macgreggo is freed and he takes them up towars his mountain hideout to talk. His backstory is similar to the original, but here his title is not Greggo the Scourge but Greggo the Just. Macgreggo takes them to his mountain retreat where his band is encamped. On the way, Copper hits the ground--he has spotted the gleam of a gun barrel behind a bush. Macgreggo says its Klavik, a Bulgarian. He is inexperienced and allowed his gun barrel to show. At Macgreggo's Camp Macgreggo's men greet him warmly on his return and they carry Gimlet and co. on their shoulders as heroes. Macgreggo briefs Gimlet about the castle layout, and even draws him a diagram. They discuss the plan for rescuing the pasha. Macgreggo says he knows a cellmate named Milko (this is the peasant Gimlet saw being taken away earlier on). Milko is in the fatigue party which is escorted out daily to chop wood. Macgreggo believes he is reliable and can be very useful. While he is chopping wood, Macgreggo will speak to him discreetly. Milko will be asked to bribe a guard named Vlady with three thousand roubles (not one thousand as in the original). Milko will pass him a ball of string, which Vlady will use to haul up and a rope and grappling hook. This part of the plan is achieved smoothly--but only Gimlet goes forward with Macgreggo to talk to Milko. Copper and Trapper remain behind. There is no switching of Sienco with Abuk. The bribing of the guard Vlady (and not Yakoff) is done through the prisoner Milko. Up the Castle Walls As night falls, the party sets off. As in the book, Macgreggo stations some men at the top of the hill to cover their retreat in case the attempt to scale the castle wall fails. Sienco goes with them while in the original he does not. There is also no guide in the person of Yousouf. In fact they do not go up the rock via a secret path. They go straight to the base of the rock where Macgreggo and Seinco feels for a string and then they tie a rope with a grappling hook onto it. There is no Cub here, Macgreggo gives Gimlet the honour of being the first to climb up the rock and then the castle wall. At the top, Gimlet is caught by three men--the personal guards of the governor Vladimir Karzoff. Karzoff's Offer Karzoff's explanation for how Vlady was caught is much the same as in the original. The governor here also offers to release the pasha and Gimlet. But here he wants ten thousand roubles, not three. Much of the discussion takes place along the same lines as in the original. Gimlet accepts and the pasha is brought to him. He recognises him so does not need to question him like Cub did in the original. However Karzoff's plan to release the two is foiled because the armoured car coming to take the pasha away is early and already heading towards the castle. It's too late to organise an escape for Gimlet and the pasha. So now the story has to diverge from the original. Gimlet here leaps on Karzoff and knocks him out. He ties him up and dumps him into a cupboard. Escape Gimlet leads the pasha to the ramparts and they descend by rope (which has been left there). Unlike the pasha in the original who does what is required of him gamely and without demur, this one keeps saying he can't do it and he is exhausted. But they do make it down the rock (although no one spots them and opens fire). Down below, they meet Trapper. He takes them back up the hill where they hear gunfire. Trapper explains that Macgreggo and Copper are attacking the armoured car. Note there is only one here, and they are attacking it on its way into the castle, not on its way out. Furthermore, their motivation is different. They are trying to use the armoured car as a way to infiltrate the castle and attack it to free Gimlet and the pasha. The armoured car is captured but since Gimlet and the pasha are already out, there is no need to proceed with the original plan. Gimlet has another idea. The armoured car is loaded with dynamite charges. Copper and Trapper drive it to the causeway where it is detonated, destroying the drawbridge and effectively trapping the garrison inside the castle. Note the prisoners, such as Milko, do not get freed, unlike in the original. Nor does Karzoff die. He is found by his troops and set free. He orders his troops to recapture Gimlet and the pasha but, of course, it is too late. Egress Macgreggo decides to go with Gimlet. They head for the coast. Unlike the original, there is no sign of pursuit. No aircraft or land search parties. There is no mobile searchlight on the cliff nor a patrolling destroyer. They simply meet Cub who has been guarding the plane and they take off. Category:Plot summaries (derivative works)